McPhee said the Capitals "got a report from someone that was at the game who said Orlov's first period the other night was the best first period he's ever seen from a 19-year-old in the American Hockey League. So that was pretty encouraging."

The small percentage of people that “hate” are the people with the loudest voices, with the most opinions and with the most comments.
-------------Ted's Take-----------------

Hey Ted, I'd be happy to come on board as VP of operations or personnel and we could spare the readership here my opinions and comments. Just get in touch with my agent and we'll do lunch :)

Now for last night's game, how 'bout that Johnny Rock Star!! Seemed like everytime he was on the ice he was rocking the bejesus outta some unfortunate Isle. (4 hits and 1 block? Man, what game are the scorers watching this year?) I don't think Haley played much after absorbing a hit from #4, and not sure if he was even on the bench by the end of the game. Boulton, Fedotenko and now Haley...who'll be the next person Rock Star rocks off the ice?

Now, the nickname spun from good'ole Bobby Weir's stage theatrics and I again thought of the Dead last night. Like the Dead, there is balance in Rock Star's game and with the highs come some lows: an interference penalty, a giveaway late in the first, and a missed hit leading to Backstrom's penalty late in the 3rd. (Wouldn't ya know it happened the game after I claimed he pretty much eliminated that problem from his game?)

But playing hockey, like making music, is a team endeavor and the Caps were and are good enough to absorb Rock Star's miscues. (Shoot, he wasn't even the worst dman on our team last night, with Carlson taking that honor.) Even the Dead rocked on Jerry's off nights....

Sadly, Jerry is no longer with us and reading that Green will be joining the team next week (huh?), my guess is that Erskine will soon no longer be with us on the ice (instead occupying Sloan's spot in the pressbox). That would be INSULTING AND SHAMEFUL, as Rock Star plays hockey the way the Dead made magic. In his place we'll see the Big Oaf, and ****55 looks, plays, and sounds like elevator music.

Could it be they are waiting for Green to get back in the lineup and then they plan on waiving Sloan? How would that affect the cap? Or could it be they are really planning on holding Green out until the last couple games prior to the playoffs so they can put him on LTIR? Would that help?

They won't waive Sloan. Poti is out for year most likely. Fehr will most likely come back next Wed at the earliest.

Green will most likely go on LTIR retroactive when Fehr comes back which means he will be out until at some point during the 6 game road trip later this month at least. Most likely returning around April 1st.

Seeing that the Grateful Dead was probably the most successful band in recent history without a single member who could sing ... the analogy went pfffffft! in my mind. Talk about drinking KoolAid ... .

Recent lennnnngthy posts by self-appointed hockey experts suggest that it's more about the poster than the post. And, as in life, that gets tiresome.

PhilR: I thought ThePat said everyone here now, is here to the end. Maybe I'm the only one who cares, but I'd like a story from WaPo on how this fits in the cap.

As for Ted's Take, his comments are a misrepresentation of the facts. He cited vast majority supported the poll but 90% of posts were negative (and that's tmac's fault!).

I support the trades. However, that doesn't mean I support the body of McPhee's work or think BB can win 16 in spring. A logic professor could tell you the scientific name for Ted's disconnection of facts there.

Even though, the posts Monday were not 90% negative. I'd say they were running about 50/50 and are about 80/20 positive today. Ted thinks only the loudest voices post and those people are all dark siders. It's a free country. Anyone can post. You have to be coherent in your argument though and you must be prepared for others to question you. Maybe some of the silent "supportive" majority that Ted thinks is out there just aren't as knowledgeable about the game. That doesn't make them better or worse fans. And it doesn't necessarily make either of us right.

Oh, some people might not like this, but the more people know about hockey, the more likely they are to be negative. People who don't follow other teams and only judge their own team will believe what they are told. People with more experience watching league wide and for years and years, to be honest, should be better able to judge the Caps relative to other Cup contenders. The common fan who lines up in Ted's Legion doesn't know, for instance, John Madden from John Madden.

What Ted is confusing is that a "happy customer" doesn't equate to "highly knowledeable fan." In fact, one can argue rather that the two are mutually exclusive.

I don't think negativity equals knowledge. I know many very knowledgeable fans who are optomistic and don't post, or even read, blogs. Considering that the vast majority of fans don't post on blogs it is unwise for anyone, including Ted, to make generalizations about the fan base based on what is posted.

Sorry, not sure if anyone else has covered this topic today as it has been crazy here at work so been unable to read everything.

Does anyone else think that Arnott should be on the first line right now and drop Backs down with Laich and Semin so that you have two guys on the top two lines who can WIN faceoffs in Arnott and Laich? It really was painful last night watching Sturm take faceoffs, simply not a strong point for him. So I would be happy with:

Seeing that the Grateful Dead was probably the most successful band in recent history without a single member who could sing ... the analogy went pfffffft! in my mind. Talk about drinking KoolAid ... .

If you compared them to Neil Young in singing ability---they were great. Actually, their playing wasn't very good most of the time also. I guess drugs will do that to you. DSO in my opinion sounds much better.

I do not think Sloan is going anywhere as they cannot send him to Hershey for the rest of this season. Hershey has to submit its Clear Day list by Monday, 3/7 at 3 pm. Only players on the Clear Day list can play for Hershey for the remainder of the season and the playoffs. Tim Leone, who is a beat writer for the Patriot News, had an article in which he said that a player on an NHL roster had to be sent to Hershey by this past Monday, 2/28, in order to be eligible for the Clear Day list.

Seeing that the Grateful Dead was probably the most successful band in recent history without a single member who could sing ... the analogy went pfffffft! in my mind. Talk about drinking KoolAid ... .

Posted by: tw46 | March 2, 2011 2:43 PM | Report abuse

Hey, it is about me so quit reading my posts! (I'm thinking about typinc backwards so that I can stand in front of a mirror and lovingly re-read my posts as I look at myself)

The Dead w/out someone who could sing? Spoken like someone who enjoys studio-produced music that is lip-synched when performed live. Turn down your Justin Bieber music, tw46, it's giving me a headache all the way up here.

@Tom, per your request to Katie for info on the Cap, McPhee said that they had placed Green & Fehr on LTIR retroactive to the first game they missed, I assume Poti was already on LTIR, and as you mentioned we have had several players going back and forth to Hersehy, some of those call ups on a couple of day basis may help to slightly reduce the cap numbers? I beleieve the roster still remains at 23, they have 27 listed on the website but thaqt includes Green, Fehr, Poti & Perrault

Vermont, for what it's worth - and it's not much - Garcia taught guitar at Dana Morgan's music store on El Camino Real in Palo Alto, CA in the early 60's. Weir went to Menlo School in Menlo Park and was also one of Garcia's students. Garcia taught me a bunch of Elizabeth Cotton picking tunes. Of course that's not 'proof,' but it's questionable if you'd accept proof anyway, since you appear to know everything about everything and didn't know that.

I'm with you on Erskine but the grateful dead? Expected something more like Sabbath. Grateful Dead always sounded like yacht rock/cruise ship music for people that wanted a break from straight up smooth jazz.

SteveR: No, no, I clearly wrote that fans who know the game less, in total, are no better or worse than the most rabid fan. I said that I believed that fans who know more are more inclined, in total, to be negative.

If you only know the Mets and don't know how they stack up against the Phillies, how likely are you to go on a blog like this and debate others? So Ted has thousands of fans who love the Caps. Some don't follow hockey but the Caps. They support the trades. Why not, Caps are better. But you REALLY have to follow hockey to come here and debate.

Does anyone else think that Arnott should be on the first line right now and drop Backs down with Laich and Semin so that you have two guys on the top two lines who can WIN faceoffs in Arnott and Laich? It really was painful last night watching Sturm take faceoffs, simply not a strong point for him. So I would be happy with:

Ovie/Arnott/Strum
Backs/Laich/Semin

Posted by: PhilR
----
@PhilR
you mean the same Arnott that won 4 draws and lost 10? ouch!

I e-mail with a group of ex-regulars from here most every day. Everybody knows their stuff & the split is more negative than not percentage wise I'd guess (prior to the trade deadline), so I'll have to say good point.

But all but one of us liked the trades that GMGM did, the lone dissenter was pissed that he didn't go all in for Weiss (or someone like him).

"Oh, some people might not like this, but the more people know about hockey, the more likely they are to be negative. People who don't follow other teams and only judge their own team will believe what they are told. People with more experience watching league wide and for years and years, to be honest, should be better able to judge the Caps relative to other Cup contenders. The common fan who lines up in Ted's Legion doesn't know, for instance, John Madden from John Madden.

What Ted is confusing is that a "happy customer" doesn't equate to "highly knowledeable fan." In fact, one can argue rather that the two are mutually exclusive."

---------------------------------

Best post I've ever seen on a WaPo Caps article, finally someone with some knowledge.

If anyone here knows Goat ("Let's Go Caps"), ask him if he would consider coming up with a couple of more chants to get the Verizon Center crowd into the games. I think it would help motivate our squad to play some inspired hockey. The season has begun and it is time to get into a more festive mood! I know we have great fans but I think we need the help of a ring leader to get the best out of us.

I'll bet 80-90% of the "fans" in attendance Thursday night have no clue who Dmitri Orlov is.

Agreed! I would bet my house on this.
90% prob dont even know who our AHL affiliate is. Fans try and pretend that they are die hard and are extremely loud about it, but dont know anything. Most of the people who comment here seem to know their stuff....

My response is always: compared to what? I mean yeah, of course they're good; they're in the NHL. But relative to the other teams, is Armstrong really that good...?
---------------

Very well-stated, PSD1 - as a Caps fan I'd merely sub Schultz for Armstrong, and the point's the same!

This gets to the heart of my main beef with GMGM - of course every GM will be partial to their own picks, that's natural. But if STL can cut bait with Johnson - the highly-touted, #1 overall pick just a few years back, and silver-medal winner in an hyper-competitive Olympics - shouldn't GMGM, on some level, be able to do the same with his own draftees?

I mean, noone's perfect, and the overall record [of late, I'd hasten to add] of i.e., Ovie, Backs, Carlson, Varly, Alzner, Neuvy, Orlov, Kuznetzov, etc. looks quite good - but if you're never able to admit even the little mistake [although I wouldn't call picking E Fehr ahead of Getzlaf a minor flub], that does not bode well long-term. And it maybe explains how Nylander got, well, "Nylandered;" after all, didn't GMGM bring him here in the first place?

Looking at the comments at the trade deadline and now, I would say "we so called experts" are just as prone to go with the tide as are the fans that pay the freight. The percentages don't lie. Remember last year after the major trade that brought Corvo, Walker and others? That first game was stellar, a win. What's important is what happens next: the melding of a team that can win in the playoffs. Pairing Arnott and Laich, both of whom go to the front of the net, fills a major void in the Cap attack! With only one Cap willing, opponents slide the puck to draw him away from the net, knowing the other Caps wouldn't go there. To this casual observer (not an expert) that may be the reason Knuble has been less effective this season. The effect this has had on OV and Backie is a study in itself. How many times over the past twos seasons have we all lamented "no Caps in front of net"? Contrast that with teams that corral the Caps. They often have two players posted there, drawing one or two Caps to form a wall, blinding the goalies. Oh well, I'll just wait and see how the trades work. BB's future depends on it.

"..the best first period he's ever seen from a 19-year-old in the American Hockey League..."

I don't care how many casual fans know who Dmitri Orlov is right now. I think that review of his skills is what you would call "encouraging"?!

All GMGM does is continue to find very highly-skilled players for this organization. And all anyone can blog about is how he should be fired.

You can't have it both ways. You can't vent your frustration about how the Caps have not won a Cup, despite being so talented, and then say that GMGM is doing a bad job.

His job is to amass as much talent as possible. Clearly he has done that better than just about anyone in the League. The problem this season is that talented players are not playing to their capabilities.

How could anyone have predicted that the Caps would struggle offensively like this? I would submit that - forgetting everything else that's happened this season - if the Caps power play was above 20% (a reasonable aspiration), the team would be first in the Southeast division and challenging for the top seed in the Conference.

It hasn't happened. But the fault can hardly be blamed on GMGM. Could he have addressed the problem of a second-line center sooner? Maybe. But I find it rather hard to believe that Tomas Fleischmann was the key to the Caps success the last 2 seasons. And I find it hard to believe that Alex Ovechkin relies on the second-line center for him to have a good season.

I think it's time to put this season's disappointments where they belong: OV, Backstrom, Green, and Semin.

I don't care who the GM is, or the coach. If your four best offensive players all decide to have bad seasons at the same time, you are not going to have a good year. And until those players decide to up their game, or figure out whatever their problem is - and fix it, nothing anyone else does, including the GM, is going to matter much.

it seem that less than ten posters here spew negativity, hate, fire this and that. Ten of the fan base that is not even worth acknowledging...GMGM is doing a fine job, if vermontcaps and the others were correct in all of their desires, I expect that they would be the CAPS gm (VCGM)...but they are not. Ignore them and move on. Go Caps.

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